Award-winning investigative reporter Keli Rabon, who joined KMGH-Channel 7 in 2012 and made a national splash with her series on untested rape kits in 2013, will depart KMGH for the ABC-owned station KTRK in her hometown of Houston.

In a note to station staffers, General Manager Brad Remington expressed “disappointment,” noting, “we’d like to think we made Keli agonize over her decision this week, but ultimately the hometown draw was too much…We also want to say that the tradition of great investigative reporting will continue at KMGH. Scripps, the station, myself and our new news director are all extremely committed to investigative journalism, and so the search will begin immediately for a terrific investigative reporter to join this elite team.”

“I was having to choose between one family and another family,” Rabon said. “In the end, Houston was where I felt like I need to be. Brad moved heaven and earth to try to keep me and I’ve only known him for a month… His dedication to investigations made it so hard.”

“It was the hardest decision of my life,” she said. “I haven’t had a good night sleep in weeks.”

In jumping to Houston, Rabon will go to a larger TV market, from No. 17 to No. 10, according to Nielsen’s rankings. Part of the appeal of working for a network-owned station is the easier access to network news shows such as “Good Morning America.” Keep an eye out for Rabon’s reporting to turn up on ABC in the future.

Denver’s 7News and reporter Keli Rabon won a duPont-Columbia Award for a year-long investigation into the failure of police to test thousands of rape kits gathered as evidence. “Colorado Rape Victims: Evidence Ignored, Justice Denied” uncovered systematic failures in the handling of rape cases in Colorado.

Two other stations are also winners of the Silver Baton: WFAA-TV Dallas and reporter Byron Harris will be honored for a relentless two-year long investigative series, “Dentacaid: Medicaid Dental Abuse in Texas,” and WVUE-TV New Orleans and reporter Lee Zurik for “Body of Evidence”, which revealed misuse of public funds, corruption and fraud. WBZ Boston won for breaking news coverage of the Boston marathon bombing. CBS News won for coverage of the Newton mass shootings. ESPN won for investigative reporting for the first time.

For KMGH, this marks the third duPont Award, broadcasting’s equivalent to the Pulitzer. The station won in 2003 for “Honor and Betrayal: Scandal at the Air Force Academy” and again in 2010 for “33 Minutes to 34 Right.” Rabon will be honored with Jason Foster, investigative photographer and editor; Art Kane, executive producer; Jeff Harris, news director; Byron Grandy, vice president and general manager.

Dismissive officials and uncooperative law enforcement agencies didn’t deter Rabon, who hopes the result of her work will be DNA matches to solve cold cases going forward. Read more…

If you’ve been keeping score in the ongoing Denver TV news versus Denver DA war of words, you’ve seen a fascinating interplay of public officials and local TV journalists in action. It hasn’t been pretty, but it’s instructive for both sides. The TV journalist, Keli Rabon, has appeared professional and consistently probing, after seeking an interview with Denver DA Mitch Morrissey for five months. The elected official has come across as bullying and stonewalling, his office seeking to control the flow of information and accusing the station of being untrustworthy.

If you’ve been watching, you know that 7News reported that “Denver’s DA declines more than 70 percent of sex assault cases and 36 percent of felony cases.” The story was reprinted in the Denver Post.

7News then took the highly unusual step of posting the nine-plus-minute entirety of an interview (below) from Morrissey on its website. “I’m more than happy to talk to you off camera,” he says repeatedly. “You don’t tell the truth, lady. I have seen your editing…I know none of this will make your ambush…unfair attacks is what you’re about.”

Seven out of 10 rapes in Denver aren’t prosecuted, 7News investigator Arthur Kane notes when they’re finally sitting down, talking. There they are, in semi-darkness on the DA’s video feed, obtained by 7News through the state’s open records laws. Morrissey says it’s about working with the evidence that the city has, and proceeding when there is “a reasonable likelihood of conviction.” He adds, “this is a moving target that you guys are throwing at me.”

Keli Rabon, an investigative reporter with multiple national and regional awards to her credit, has been hired by KMGH-Channel 7 as a member of the investigative team. She succeeds Tony Kovaleski on the team; Kovaleski departed last year for KNTV in his native San Jose.

Rabon was previously at KVUE in Austin as chief investigative reporter and, before that, investigative reporter at WREG in Memphis and WLOX in Pascagoula. Her first day is April 2.

In making the announcement, News Director Jeff Harris called Rabon “one of the best and brightest investigative reporters in the country.”

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.